Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

It has stood on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, on land, which is clearly within the reservation as defined by the Seven Nation of Canada treaty, massive, and seeming permanent, its smoke stack emissions tainting the sky, it’s wastes contaminating the waters.

Recently, the Alcoa Corporation, owner of the Reynolds aluminum plant, announced it was closing the factory and moving its smelting operations to Asia while trying to stick the American taxpayers with a massive clean up bill. This from a company that had in 2013, revenues of over $5 billion dollars.

It was Reynolds, which for decades has deeply affected the Mohawk people. It made aluminum and in doing so brought great harm to the environment and changed the economic, physical and social lives of those who lived downwind.

The emissions crippled an aboriginal way of life just as it wiped out the farming life at Akwesasne. Livestock stumbled about on brittle bones, the rate of cancers and diabetes among the people rose, the health of the fish deteriorated. A lifestyle deeply interwoven with the natural world was unraveled.

Elders who lived during the hard times of the early 20th century were hopeful that the plant would bring badly needed jobs to the community. They had endured blatant racism, employment discrimination and the harsh rule of Indian Agents and BIA lackeys. They were self sufficient in terms of food but that was dependent upon the river and what lived beneath its waters. If they had fish they would survive as it could be eaten, used as fertilizer and bartered for other essentials.

If they had good water, a diverse forest and clean soil they could plant, harvest, cure their ills, make their art and heat their homes. If they lived off the land they had to speak its language and sustain a culture that celebrated the earth and its gifts. Break that bond and for many families retaining the language and the last embers of a dying way of life did not make sense.

Parents believed children born in the era of the Seaway, Domtar, Reynolds, Alcoa, GM and Courtaulds should be formally educated so they could get those good paying jobs and not have the hard lives of their generation; or so it was reasoned. For a people who had been taught that they were secondary and irrelevant it was important for the next generation to have the market skills so their lives would be easier.

So the changes took place and the Mohawk people became wage earners and consumers.

Reynolds was a key factor in this. The plant did provide dozens of Mohawks with steady jobs. It became an economic anchor for the region and was largely free of environmental, governmental and labor constraints. In an area marked by chronic unemployment Reynolds had considerable influence.

Perhaps some knew that this would come at a great price. The pollutants began to build in the water, land and people. This accumulation of toxins might take decades to emerge and the legal system was not designed to provide equitable relief. As time passed the Mohawks were held to strict deadlines but without the hard science there was not much to be done in the US courts.

Ideally, the western part of Akwesasne should have been roped off a long time ago but the area’s politicians and its judiciary were not about to impose penalties or stringent environmental regulations on the company.

As for the land claims initiative and the maps, which placed Reynolds within the reservation, no American judge was ever going to acknowledge this fact. Who were the Mohawks anyway? And watch as to how easily it was to have them fight among each other for gambling licenses and smuggling routes. So easy.

Now the plant is closing, taking its earth destroying methods to other nations in distant lands leaving the Mohawk people forever changed and an ecological burden, which will be carried for many generations.

There will be a lot of hungry and desperate people at the slot machines this year.

Sadly, this is what happens when people in need make hurried decisions under pressure and abandon the traditional teachings by which complicated and life-changing decisions are made.

If nothing else Reynolds stands as a testament to what happens when we concede immediate need and our responsibilities to the earth and the unborn, for our own generational benefit.

Think otherwise? Project ourselves seven generations from now and we all know what those Mohawks will think of us then.